Working with Instagram influencers is a little different to working with bloggers and publishers, so we thought it deserved a post of its own to help you on your way to creating successful influencer campaigns on Instagram. Let’s start at the beginning…

Who Is An Instagram Influencer?

The term ‘influencer’ can be hard to clearly define, as the term is quite subjective. Basically, an influencer is someone who has influence over people of a certain demographic or niche and is not limited to people with a certain number of Instagram followers. Therefore, an influencer could be a celebrity, media personality, sporting professional or reality TV star, or it could simply be someone with great fashion sense, a popular figure in the digital space or someone who has a knack for creating intriguing imagery. So with that in mind, there’s not a one size fits all approach to becoming or being an influencer. Instead, it’s a case by case scenario that weighs up an Instagrammers followers with their engagement, demographics, content quality and other metrics.

How Do You Find Instagram Influencers?

Now that you know what, or rather who, an Instagram influencer is, it’s time to find the ones that would fit perfectly with your brand as one-off promoters or long-term ambassadors. If you‘re a scrunch user, log into your inbox and use the directory function to search our database of over 23 million influencers by category, keyword, location and brand mentions. For more info on how to use the Scrunch directory, check out our help centre articles here.

If you’re not a scrunch user, you can still find Instagram influencers, it’s just a lot harder to sift through and filter endless amounts of data. Jump onto Instagram and do the following searches to start with:

Look at all of the posts you have been tagged in. Here you’ll find influencers you have worked with in the past, and also other people who generally like your product. You could get in touch with them to discuss collaborative opportunities if you think they would be a good fit for an upcoming campaign on Instagram because you know organically like your brand.

Look through popular hashtags that relate to your industry, such as #sydneyfood or #everydaystyle. Here you may find influencers in your industry that you could work with. Be warned though, that anyone can use a hashtag on Instagram, so you will have to sift through the masses to find legitimate influencers.

Look at your competitors Instagram accounts and see if they are working with any Instagram influencers and, if so, who. They could be a good fit for your target market and they obviously work with brands in the same industry, so it is worthwhile outreaching to them and getting them familiar with your brand.

How Will They Include Your Brand?

Does the influencer already like your brand or post about a similar product? Is it natural for them to post about your brand, or will it look strange alongside their usual content? Will it be obvious that this post was sponsored in one way or another? Is your product visually appealing? These are the questions you need to consider once you have found an influencer you want to work with. As Instagram is a visual network, consider how your product will be photographed and posted about on Instagram by the influencer. Look at their previous posts to get an idea, and there’s no harm in requesting a certain style of photo if you want something in particular. It’s also important to consider whether your brand will look natural on their feed. Instagram users are getting good at picking whether a post was sponsored or commissioned, and it’s easy for them to tell when the product isn’t what the Instagram influencer generally posts about. Make sure it seems natural for them to post about your brand to ensure success.

What’s The Agreement?

While it doesn’t have to be an official agreement that is signed by both parties, you should certainly document the agreement between your brand and the influencer you are collaborating with to outline the goals of the campaign and ensure they are achieved. It is also important to make sure the agreement is mutually beneficial. In some cases, the influencer may request payment for a sponsored collaboration, so be open to these opportunities and make an agreement that is mutually beneficial and doesn’t take advantage of one party. Never assume that an influencer will work with you for free or little benefit, because it will likely damage your relationship and make them hesitant to work with you.

How Will You Measure The Success Of The Collaboration?

Once you have defined your goals and outlined what you want to achieve, you must think about how you will measure the success of the influencer campaign. If you are a scrunch user, you can connect your Google Analytics account to your inbox and track conversions from influencer campaigns. If you are not a scrunch user, you will have to manually track the success of the campaign by monitoring your new followers and any increases in traffic to your website.

So, if you’re thinking about stepping into the world of influencer marketing on Instagram, remember these things to ensure you reach your goals. Above all, treat Instagram influencers with the same respect as you would a magazine editor because, after all, their roles in the world of marketing are not so different.

If you want to know more about working with bloggers and digital publishers, check out this post that we put together a couple of months ago about working with bloggers, from prospecting, connecting and engaging to goal setting and collaborating.